So I had my first SDMB thread closed, not off to a good start. The reason cited was that I should seek medical attention and should not talk about it on an internet message board. I was not looking for an end all medical solution or a presecription. I was simply looking for similar experiences and opinions on a matter that i did not deem required immediate medical attention. Being that the forum was called “In my honest opinion” I thought it was apprioriate.
So I ask where the line on this rule is drawn. Could I for instance go into the mundane and pointless forum and post “I stibbed my toe! Don’t you hate when that happens?” or would I be greeted with “Seek medical attention, do not talk about it on the internet”?
I can understand how “I am having a heart attack! Send an ambulance!” is not acceptable here and the poster should be advised to seek medical attention, but a free exchange of thoughts and ideas even on a subject of a medical nature does not strike me as grounds for immediate closing in a forum for opinions.
I mean no disrespect, so please let me know if I am over steping my bounds.
It is cool you ask to be clear on the formats and acceptable posting here.
First off this thread should probably have been in the “About This Message Board” (aka ATMB) section but just take that as an FYI and not a criticism. It certainly is not something anyone will bust you over.
Second I did not see your original thread so I cannot comment on what might have been at issue there. Seeking medical advice is always handled with a bit of care here as no one wants to be responsible for suggesting a course of treatment that could potentially make things worse for the poster (via wrong advice or not listing all options and so on). Still, such questions are asked but when you see them they almost always have a pile of, “This is an opinion…seek a doctor’s advice who is qualified in this field” (or something to that effect). In some cases there may really be no effective advice the posters here can provide for a medical issue beyond, “go see a doctor”.
And yes, you can post a thread in MPSIMS that is nothing more than “I stubbed my toe.”
You can then go to the Pit and swear like a sailor about how much it hurt and call into question the parentage of the person who moved the table causing you to stub your toe.
In Great Debates you can ask if your toe really exists or not.
In My Humble Opinion section you can ask for advice about what toe nail polish might look best to cover up the black & blue mark caused by stubbing your toe.
In Cafe Society you can ask for recommendations of good movies where the main character stubbed their toe.
I think the reason they thought you were asking for advice was because you said “advice please” in your title, and then asked for advice at the conclusion of your post.
These message boards are a bit of shoestring operation, and one of the management’s concerns is to avoid legal liability. Since lawsuits over medical malpractice are very expensive, even if you successfully defend yourself, the SDMB has adopted a pretty strict policy against seeking or giving medical opinions on the boards.
A bit of board history - there was a prolific poster who kept jumping in with inaccurate medical advice on threads like the one you started, in spite of repeated warnings not to do so. Eventually the managment banned him, and instituted the “no-medical-advice” rule, to limit their own legal exposure.
As they repeatedly say, “it’s just a message board.” Hope you have fun - although medical opinions are out of bounds, there’s a lot of other discussions that can catch your attention.
Not to mention honesty would kill all the cool names of folks here. We might have to go legit.
Whacka: That is the best overall description of this board I have ever read. It certainly highlights the variety of topics within topics covered here. It deserves to be in a “intro to the SDMB” somewhere. (If it isn’t already)
Just to expand a little on what Frank said, we have had folks trying to use the Message Boards instead of seeing a doctor. This is (obviously) a bad idea; aside from getting diagnoses from non-medical, non-qualified folks (who might be well-intended or might be malicious), there’s just too much missing info for appropriate diagnosis.
Discussion of “who’s been in a similar situation?” is fine, but it does need to be clear up front that’s what you’re going for.
In any case, welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board and we hope you’ll be around a while (and get some feedback on your question when you’ve restated it.)
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